Questionable Content

It honestly doesn't matter what triggered Faye's relapse, because anything could. What Faye needs to actually learn is how to cope without falling back into alcoholism, what with losing her job and nearly dying because of it.

She still has her friends. She has a new job. She's doing good, but she's an alcoholic and she's going to be challenged with that for the rest of her life. It's about time she learns to deal with it.

At least she's controlling her portions. That's a pretty small bottle, so unless it's like 200 proof it's not going to hospitalize her again.

Addiction doesn't work like that.

like what?

She's putting a limit on her intake. There are high-functioning alcoholics.

Oh there's no problem. She's just been confronted with an emotional issue and decided to resolve it by drinking even though she lost her previous job and nearly died because of it.

As long as she drinks it out of a sippy cup her crippling alcoholism won't get in the way of anything.

Even if she's been forced to approach it rationally and dissect her reasons for doing so, and chooses to have that drink anyway? Even if she's careful to keep her portions too small to hurt herself with?

I'm not saying this is a good decision to make. I'm saying that Bubbles is already helping, by forcing her to examine why she's choosing to have this drink in a rational way.

The problem is when the first bottle is gone and she heads out to buy the second bottle. And yes, not everyone with a drinking problem is incapable of ever having a drink again. The problem is that she is stuck on handling stress by getting dangerously drunk. Sure, it sucks learning your friends are getting on with their lives and while they miss you, you were not their entire world. We deal with "this sucks" moments in different ways, some more constructive than others. Some people beat their wives or girlfriends (or husbands). Some people drink and stay drunk as long as possible. Some people cry on their friend's shoulders. Some people throw themselves into their work. Everyone has their own way. Some better than others.

edited 2nd Jul '16 12:17:10 PM by JerryC

And there's always slippery slope. From "oh shit I must stop drinking, pronto" to "See? I totally can get a drink occasionally without putting myself into a hospital!" to "harblgebargle".

Sure, some people that had serious alcohol problem manage to stick the landing on drinking non-problematically, but it's still a risk.

edited 2nd Jul '16 12:30:55 PM by Adannor

This conversation is like fuck.

That single bottle won't put her in the hospital, but it may lead down the slippery slope.

New comic

And as for the intake... I dunno. On the one hand it is a positive sign that she went for 'teeny bottle' rather than 'large jug of moonshine'. It would be better if she weren't drinking at all, but given the choice between the two teeny bottle is technically better.

On the other hand, this is not a healthy drinking scenario. AA peddles this unhealthy theory that ONCE YOU LET A TOUCH OF THE DEVIL'S DRINK PASS YOUR LIPS YOU HAVE ALREADY RUINED EVERYTHING, which is exaggerated, silly, and often counterproductive. But at the same time, it's unfortunate that her emotional response to something upsetting is to go to the booze. Even if tonight is just a teeny bottle, that impulse if unchecked could lead to future much worse drinking episodes.

So, whatever happens here, I'm more concerned about what happens the morning after. Does Faye wake up and go "huh, that went fine, I guess I can drink more now" or does she wake up and go "I thoroughly regret that. I should apologise to Bubbles, engage with my support network and start going back to group."

Disclaimer: I disagree with AA on some things and it's not the path I chose with my recovery but it's helped a lot of people and I respect that and them.

edited 3rd Jul '16 8:22:19 PM by oppyu

QC has a good reputation of characters making healthy choices over Rule of Drama and has defied There Are No Therapists before so i have faith. This isn't Game Of Thrones.

AA has also put the kibosh on research into pharmaceutical therapies for addiction, directly and indirectly, putting the idea into our culture that it's all in your head and you can't fix a chemical dependency with more chemicals.

New comic

yay

New comic. Seems like the RSS feed is temporarily down though.

Yay! Well not yay, but not as bad as it could have been.

Something really weirds me out about that panel layout.

So I'm assuming she didn't go through with the drink, and is now venting her frustration into a punching bag?

Seems that way. I sorta expected her knuckles to be bloodied.

edited 6th Jul '16 11:56:10 AM by Willbyr

me: ugly cries

Or she did go through with the drink and is venting her anger at relapsing.

When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras. The previous strip had her struggling to take a sip. This strip has her working out. Do the math.

Take a swig, Bubbles, you earned it.

Bottle contents was brown. Now there's a brown puddle on the floor.

I have no idea what with or why Bubbles had refilled it.

It's a machine shop of sorts. That could be brake fluid, hydraulic fluid.....